Cyprus: Leg two report

Saturday, 20th April 2002
Ford driver Colin McRae has extended his advantage on the fifth round
of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Cyprus Rally, which continued
today. McRae's Focus WRC started today's eight scheduled tests less
than seven...

Saturday, 20th April 2002

Ford driver Colin McRae has extended his advantage on the fifth round
of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Cyprus Rally, which continued
today. McRae's Focus WRC started today's eight scheduled tests less
than seven seconds clear of Marcus Grönholm's Peugeot but by the time
the cars returned this evening's overnight halt in Limassol, he'd
extended that gap to more than 25s.

The Cyprus Rally's switch to a spring date raised the chance of
occasional showers but crews had to cope with everything from dust
to rocks, thunderstorms to deep mud during today's tests. Many drivers
described SS12 as the worst conditions they'd ever had to compete in,
with deep water-filled ruts and treacherous mud. One part of the final
stage was so bad that organisers elected to scrap the stage from the
schedule. The difficult roads clearly suited Tommi Mäkinen, though -
the four-times world champion moved from fifth to third today.

The event's tough reputation has finally started to be backed up by
additions to the retirements list. François Duval succumbed to an oil
pump problem this morning, while Freddy Loix and Alister McRae were
both sidelined by gearbox problems during the middle loop of three
stages.

FORD

Technical: François Duval's strong run in fourth place ended on
today's third stage, when the Belgian's Focus lost oil pressure
shortly after the start. Markko Martin struggled to find confidence
in his car's brakes in SS9, while Colin McRae lost around 50 percent
of his car's power steering pressure in the same test. Martin then
suffered from a misting screen when the heavy rain arrived for SS11
and SS12. Carlos Sainz's car has been reliable today, though.

Sporting: Colin McRae expected to have to fight off Marcus Grönholm
this morning and the Finn initially gained the upper hand, closing
to within two seconds of the lead by lunchtime service. But the
Scot responded in the afternoon's deteriorating weather to enter
this evening's sole remaining test more than 25s clear. Markko Martin
struggled with brake problems this morning and a badly misted screen
didn't help his cause in the torrential rain of SS11 and SS12. The
Estonian spun on the tvelwth test and he ended SS13 in sixth, behind
both Harri Rvanpera and Richard Burns. François Duval could have
benefited from Martin's problems but the young Belgian had already
retired - oil pump problems forced him to pull over and stop in SS9.
Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, has recovered strongly after his problem
filled opening day. The Spaniard set a number of fastest stage times
as he charged back towards the top ten. He holds 12th overnight.

Quotes: Colin McRae said: "The conditions in SS12 were easily the
worst I'd ever seen. There were massive ruts and it you tried to
break in the water-filled bits you just aquaplaned. If you got out
of the ruts, though, you ended up in pure mud. The gap looks fairly
good but so much depends on the conditions."

Markko Martin said: "It's been quite a difficult day actually. I
just lost confidence in the brakes this morning and then when the
rain came, the screen misted up badly and I couldn't see anything.
There was actually one point where Michael (Park) called a two-left
and I missed it completely because I just couldn't see where the
road went."

François Duval said: "It was disappointing to retire on the second
stage today because we'd chosen tyres that really suited the third
stage of the loop and I know we could have done a good time there.
I think I proved that I can do good times, but of course I wanted
to get to the finish."

PEUGEOT

Technical: The 206 WRCs of Marcus Grönholm, Richard Burns and Harri
Rovanperä have been reliable today, although Grönholm, felt his
car's wheel alignment was far from perfect for the middle loop of
three stages.

Sporting: Marcus Grönholm started his charge for the lead in style
this morning, taking five seconds out of Colin McRae over the
pening three stages. But once the conditions deteriorated the 2000
world champion lost time to the Ford driver, and he entered the
closing stage of the day more than 25s behind. Richard Burns, meanwhile,
has found improved form after his problems yesterday. The reigning
champion moved ahead of team-mate Harri Rovanperä, Skoda's Kenneth
Eriksson and Ford driver Markko Martin, although like many, he
considered himself lucky to have emerged from SS12 without an accident.
Rovanperä achieved that but he'd already rolled in SS11 - the Finn
overturned his 206 at a slow hairpin and then had to compete in the
SS12 downpour with a badly-broken windscreen and a broken side window
in his door. He only dropped 3.6s to Burns in the test, though, so he
entered SS13 just 8.6s behind the Briton. The fourth 206 driver, Gilles
Panizzi, continued to gain experience of the gravel roads and he
ended the day in 11th.

Quotes: Marcus Grönholm said: "I really thought I'd lose more time
to Colin when the rain came. In fact, Timo (Rautiainen) said to me
halfway through the stage, "Colin's going to catch us soon!' and I
said, 'Yeah, maybe you're right!' but in the end, he only took about
15 seconds. There's still a lot to fight for but the conditions are
really difficult."

Harri Rovanperä said: "I rolled at a really slow hairpin. I thought
the car was going to go back onto its wheels again and in fact, I
actually reached for the ignition switch to make a quick restart. But
then it went back onto its side so we had to wait for spectators. It
made the next stage in the rain very difficult, because the windscreen
was very bad - we had mud on the inside - and my own side window was
broken too. Every time I went sideways I got covered in mud!"

Richard Burns said: "There were places in SS12 where we would normally
be in fifth gear and we were in second - the roads were that slippery.
Harri did very well in there not to lose more time with his problems."

SUBARU

Technical: The Impreza WRC2002s of Tommi Mäkinen and Petter Solberg
have been generally reliable today, although Mäkinen did suffer a
slight scare with low boost pressure in SS8.

Sporting: Tommi Mäkinen has been today's pacesetter - the four-times
world champion moved clear of Markko Martin this morning and with
François Duval also retiring, the Finn entered the day's closing
stage in third overall. A tyre gamble backfired in the SS12 downpour,
though, and he dropped nearly a minute to second-placed Grönholm as
a result. Petter Solberg has also set some fast times as he continues
to recover from his catalogue of problems yesterday. The Norwegian
actually benefited from running first on the road at times - particularly
in SS11, when he got a dry run before his rivals were hampered by rain.
He ended SS13 in eight.

Quotes: Tommi Mäkinen said: "It's been good today. We made some small
changes to the suspension and now I have a much better feeling with
the car. I don't know how much higher we can go but we'll keep pushing.
This is the sort of rally where anyone can hit problems and that could
make a big difference yet."

SKODA

Technical: Kenneth Eriksson has lost time with differential hydraulic
pressure problems today. Although the Skoda team tried to fix the
problem at lunchtime service, it continued to trouble the Swede this
afternoon. He also suffered from a misted screen in the heavy rain of
SS12. Toni Gardemeister also struggled in the same stage - the young
Finn's wipers failed and he had to stop around a dozen times to wipe
his windscreen. He'd earlier lost time with gearbox glitches.

Sporting: Kenneth Eriksson's differential problems have dropped the
Swede down the order today, since he's been unable to defend his sixth
place against rivals like Richard Burns and Harri Rovanperä. He still
entered today's last stage in seventh place, however. Toni Gardemeister
lost time with gearbox problems this morning, then he had to stop a
dozen times in SS12 to clean his screen after his windscreen wipers
failed. He holds 16th overnight. The third works Octavia driver, Roman
Kresta, crashed out in SS12.

Quotes: Kenneth Eriksson said: "It's been hard with the differential
problems today. The front and centre diffs are losing pressure and
the car's difficult to turn in. Braking's pretty unpredictable as well.
It's a shame we've had problems because so many others have had glitches
too and we could have benefited from that."

HYUNDAI

Technical: Armin Schwarz has enjoyed a basically troublefree day in
his Accent WRC3, but Freddy Loix was forced to retire his example
when it stuck in second gear in SS12. The Belgian had to try to find
first gear for a steep hill but he could select neutral and nothing
else, so he retired on the spot. Tomasz Kuchar's car has struggled
with overheating today, meanwhile.

Sporting: Freddy Loix lost more time this morning with a repeat of
the air box filter problem that hampered him yesterday, but the
Belgian was still challenging for a points placing when gearbox
problems forced him to retire in SS12. Armin Schwarz, meanwhile, was
less than happy with his suspension settings this morning but the
German recovered to cope well in the poor road conditions of the middle
three-stage loop. He entered the day's closing stage in eighth overall.
Team-mate Tomasz Kuchar continued to gain experience of the Accent WRC,
but the Pole lies 15th overall.

Quotes: Armin Schwarz said: "Conditions this afternoon were absolutely
terrible. I took it very easy in the standing water because we know
that we can cause a misfire that way, but it was almost like wet roads
in Kenya."

MITSUBISHI

Technical: Mitsubishi lost Alister McRae's Lancer Evo WRC in SS12
after the Scot suffered gearbox problems and lost drive. François
Delecour watched seconds tick by this morning after a driveshaft
failure in the day's longest stage, SS9, and then the Frenchman's
windscreen wipers failed in the heavy rain of SS12. Jani Paasonen,
meanwhile, retired on today's opening stage with broken steering
after he clouted a rock.

Sporting: François Delecour broke another driveshaft this morning,
losing more valuable seconds, but the Frenchman at least had one
lucky break when he got a predominantly dry run through SS11 before
the heavens opened. His luck turned on the following test, though -
his windscreen wipers failed in heavy rain, forcing him to stop
twice to clean the screen of mud. He entered the closing stage in
14th. Alister McRae lost time with a slow roll on today's second
stage and then the Scot's rally ended with gearbox failure in SS12.
The third Lancer WRC driver, Jani Paasonen, retired on today's opening
stage after he slid wide at a corner on a brief asphalt section of
the stage and clipped a rock, breaking the steering.

Quotes: Alister McRae said: "The roll was at a really slow hairpin
left. I think the right-front wheel must have been right on the
outside edge of the road and when I accelerated, the car just slid
off the road and rolled down onto the road below. We landed on our
roof and pointing the wrong way up the stage so we found some spectators
and they helped us."

François Delecour said: "It's been another difficult day for us.
The driveshaft this morning cost me more time but the biggest problem
for me was the wipers in the heavy rain. It was just impossible to
see where I was going, especially when mud splashed onto the screen."

OTHER ENTRIES

Proton driver Karamjit Singh leads the Group N category, after
yesterday's class leader Giovanni Manfrinato crashed out this morning.
Bulgarian Dimitar Iliev holds second, while multiple class champion
Gustavo Trelles lost time when he stopped to change a tyre.